Kyber

As a forever DM for my own group it has been amazing to join StartPlaying and step into the "player's shoes" these past few months. In that time I have made a few friends in the campaigns I was apart of, and Maroon's game was recommended to me. It is one of the best decisions I have made in these past few months, and I could not praise Maroon more. Maroon takes great care of his games and even more so, his players. The atmosphere of the game is one in which everyone feels welcomed and relaxed. Often enough before the session starts the players (and Maroon himself) will spend time sharing the details of their week and all are allowed to vent or share successes they've recently had. All of this is fostered through Maroon's maturity and genuine care for his players, which I believe speaks highly of his character, separate from his astounding capabilities as a DM. As for the game itself, there are few DMs I know who have the flexibility of offering so many unique voices to the different NPCs we come across. In my time I do not believe I have heard a single one repeated. More than that, the descriptions he offers not only for scenery but for combat and individual characters and their interactions with the world are incredible. It is very easy to become immersed and feel ingrained in the world Maroon has built, which comes largely from his excellent narrations. He makes a point to include each character equally across the session, working in their backstories to be brought up and hinted at to the other players and encourages players to roleplay, giving each their time to shine and contribute to the story before us. He is also a very fair DM and is knowledgeable of the rules, while still allowing "rule of cool" to be implemented on occassion. Maroon is also very humble. After each session he requests voluntary feedback from each of the players both to see what we enjoyed and what more we would like to see. This allows us both to highlight points of roleplay that we enjoyed from another player or something that Maroon himself did that we can show appreciation for. Though I'm relatively new to being a player, I have not seen this level of care for player feedback in any of my other three campaigns I am currently apart of. Maroon takes our feedback critically and one can easily tell he implements it as asked in subsequent sessions. He is quick to update us with scheduling conflicts and his games are something I always look forward to. Ultimately I could not speak more highly of Maroon as a person and as a DM, and encourage all to give his sessions a try.

I've absolutely loved being a player under Ace. As a forever DM for my own group it was amazing to step into the player side and Ace made that a welcome transition. Ace is very inclusive with regard to player agency and choice, working in each player's ideas and desires to make them feel like a welcome and important addition to the table. Furthermore Ace is a very fun person to be around and the sessions reflect that, from new voices for NPCs we are meeting, having artwork or battlemaps prepared for nearly all places and people we meet, and is impressively quick at being able to jump between different things and players at once or create new ideas on the fly. Ace also maintains a great deal of professionality and fairness, keeping us up to date on scheduling conflicts, who will or won't be at the next session, and offers very fair rulings for situations in game. One can easily tell the care Ace puts into the sessions, shown through the preparation beforehand which shows as incorporated player choices and actions coming back in later sessions and the general upbeat and enthusiastic attitude displayed throughout commentary. I could not give a higher recommendation and highly encourage all to try Ace out!

I've absolutely loved being a player under Sean. As a forever DM for my own group it was amazing to step into the player side and he made that a welcome transition. He's very inclusive with regard to player ideas, engaging with provided visuals, commentary, music, and more, and overall a genuinely warm and inviting person to be around. One can easily tell the care he puts into his sessions, shown through his many hours of preparation beforehand and the enthusiasm during. I could not give him a higher recommendation and enthusiastically encourage all to try him out!